Stockport Grammar Junior School

NEWSLETTER 20th January 2017

Welcome to the first Newsletter of 2017. It has been lovely to see some blue sky at last today and to see the children outside enjoying the crisp, bright sunshine. We tried to tackle the subject of ‘democracy’ in assembly this morning, particularly considering the difficulties of democracy when people don’t agree on everything. This was sparked, as you might imagine, by the inauguration of president Trump. We actually started out talking about football, with the red and blue badges generating some strong emotions, neatly illustrating the notion that we all have to get along with people with whom we don’t agree (apologies to both City and United fans but I don’t support either!). Y6 enjoyed their trip to Liverpool this week where they learnt all about slavery and human rights, a theme which was followed up in their PSHE lessons. A full report will follow in due course. Y3 spent much of Wednesday trying to find out about the escaped tiger, news of which Mr Tully announced to the children’s amazement. Mrs Nichols launched our 500 words story competition this week and, after an impressive 80 plus entries last year, we hope that even more will take part this time. Although the BBC competition has broad age groups, within school there are prizes for each year group. Further details can be found on the BBC website (see below). There is, as ever, much to look forward to in the next two weeks. There is a particular focus on Maths on Monday, with some extra Maths lessons built into the day and various fun mathematical activities. Y3 are making the trip to Tesco for ‘Farm to Fork’, which is designed to help the children understand the importance of a healthy, balanced diet. Our Y5 and 6 singers will be making their annual trip to Manchester Arena to become part of one of the largest school choir concerts in the world and Y6 also have an Art Day ahead of them.

The Weeks Ahead Monday 23rd January Maths Day 9.00am-3.00pm Netball v WGS (A) U11 A+B 4.00-6.00pm Wednesday 25th January Gala v CHS (H) Mixed Y3-6 4.00-5.30pm Thursday 26th January Football v Birkenhead (A) U10 A+B 1.00-5.00pm Netball v Birkenhead (A) U10 A+B 1.00-5.00pm Friday 27th January Football v Westholme (H) U11 A+B 2.30-3.45pm Saturday 28th January Hockey v QSC (H) U11 A+B & U10 A+B 9.15-11.30am Stockport Harriers Cross Country, Woodbank Park 10.30am-12noon Monday 30th January Tesco ‘Farm to Fork’ trip Year 3 AM Gala v Westholme (H) Mixed Y3-6 4.00-5.30pm Wednesday 1st February Art Day Year 6 Thursday 2nd February Tesco ‘Farm to Fork’ trip Year 3 AM Arena Singers Concert 12.30-9.30pm Netball v CHS (H) U11 A+B & U10 A+B 4.00-5.00pm Friday 3rd February Hockey v Westholme (H) U11 A+B 2.15-3.30pm Saturday 4th February Manchester Harriers Cross Country, Wythenshawe Park 10.00-11.00am

Indoor and Outdoor Nursery Fun Our Nursery children have enjoyed baking gingerbread men and have had lots of fun listening to the story of The Gingerbread Man, and there are further activities around the story planned for the rest of the term. The children also made a Gingerbread Café and enjoyed role-playing and serving their ‘customers’.

Outdoor fun was had too, as the children learnt about gravity by using paint on the wheels of their favourite cars and sending them whizzing down a ramp, making lots of colourful tracks on the paper.

Making a Song and Dance of it Charli has a ‘run-in’ with Success Several of our pupils have been able to showcase their talents over recent weeks as they performed in two show-stopping shows: Mason Peters and Grace Warburton danced their way to the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz at The Evans Theatre in Wilmslow earlier this month. The production was arranged by Dance at the Smithy Dance School in Bramhall. Grace told us “I like dancing and I really enjoy taking part in the shows. The whole experience is fun and I enjoy the many costume changes, the hair-styles and the make-up! It was really nice to see some of my friends in the audience but I had to remember not to wave as we are not allowed to during the performances!”

Charli May Barnett has been competing in the Stockport Schools Cross Country series at Woodbank Park this season. Tilly Wolstenholme has had a fantastic time in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at The As a result of her 1st and 3rd place Lowry Theatre, Salford alongside Jason Manford during its current North finishes, she has been selected to West run. Tilly told us that she didn't want it to end! Tilly has a singing teacher represent Greater Manchester schools who put her forward for the audition and the part she played was a Sewer in early spring. Many congratulations to Child, one of the children who had been caught by the nasty child catcher!! Charli on her performances and selection.

News from the Pool There was a very tight finish to the swimming Gala v MGS at home for our boys on Monday, with the final result SGJS 129 - MGS 131. Many thanks to all our swimmers for taking part and showing great sportsmanship and, as always, to the parents who supported the event. There are two more home galas to look forward to in the coming weeks; Wednesday 25th January v CHS and

Monday 30th January v Westholme.

A Happy Birthday to… Adam Ullah, Anabel Brazier-Cabrejas, Arthur Wolstenholme, William Dyson, Christian Woodworth, Matthew Rogan, Nikhil Vadhri, Joshua Roberts, Bethany Burton, Sami Sen, Anna Porter, Sara Watson, Darcy Breen and Raees Latif. Science Challenge Hockey Trials ‘Six girls in Year 6 got the offer of going to the Greater Manchester hockey trials. In each training session there were three stations. The first was for doing all of the advanced passes, the second was for doing skills and on-the-go passes and the third was for matches. When the training sessions were finished many girls were told; “Thank you for coming to the training sessions.” Others were asked to come back for the next round of trials. Four of us from SGJS were asked to come back; we were delighted! On Sunday 15th January, we returned for the final trials. It was very tense but, knowing that we were a year younger than most other girls, it would be incredible and exciting if we got through. This has been a great experience for me and the other girls!’ Anna Wilkinson Y6T Chloe Smith and Alex Hartemink were selected th There was a fun dimension to Science lessons for our Y3 pupils this for final trials on 15 January and Rosie Lear will week. The children have been learning about healthy eating and they attend later in the month. Amaya North and Anna were asked to test drinks for levels of acidity. They used universal Wilkinson were successful in being selected for indicator paper to check water, coke, orange juice and milk. They the final U12 squad and the other girls will be learnt that water is neutral and orange juice is very acidic. In their called back for re-trials next season. Well done next lesson they will be learning about the impact of too much acid to all of the girls who attended the training and on their health. ‘It was the best Science lesson.’ George Yuan selection.

Yummy Stories in Y1 Y1 are learning all about traditional tales this term. This week they have looked at The Three BBC 500 Word Little Pigs. The children really enjoyed making their own pig biscuits in Art with pink icing and marshmallows and chocolate drops to create the Stories 2017 face. Create an original story and go to bbc.co.uk/500words to enter online. Also, give a paper copy to Mrs Nichols to enter into the SGJS competition for your year group.

Team and Class Photographs Please make a note in your diary for Monday 24th April (the first day of the Summer Term) as the date for class and team photographs. Please ensure children in Year 5 and 6 have their team kits with them on the day.

Musical Youth The Tiger Who Came to Year 3 Our congratulations to the following children on passing their Grade exams: Alexandra Bloor Grade 1 Flute William Buckley Grade 1 Piano Molly Coghlan Pre-grade Piano Sachin Gholkar Grade 2 Clarinet Jessica Jones Grade 1 Clarinet Lara Mathen Grade 1 Piano Jeeya Patel Grade 1 Clarinet Adina Vidler Grade 3 Trumpet Lilah Vidler Grade 2 Clarinet Sara Watson Grade 2 Flute

Sliding Fun in Nursery Our Nursery children had fun in the garden and they enjoyed interacting with the ‘play people’ and playing with water. They loved sending the people Y3 children came back from assembly on Wednesday to find their down the bamboo shoots, sparking conversations classrooms had been torn apart by an escaped tiger! about holidays and water parks and their own Mr Tully said: “I saw something dash out of the door but didn’t know experiences. what it was.” Mrs Hurst confirmed: “I was in the staffroom and heard a loud scream from Mr Tully.” The children busied themselves looking for clues and interviewed Mr Makinson, Mrs Cheyne and

Ms Mariet in their quest to uncover the truth. Mr Makinson told them: ‘It could be my pet tiger, because it ran away 2 years ago!’

Some of the children shared their initial thoughts with us: “I was extremely shocked when I entered the classroom.” Ava Perfect “There was mess everywhere, I didn’t know what had happened!” Oscar Miller “I was terrified when I saw our classroom had been torn apart!” gasped Katherine Monk

Some of the children came up with some fantastic newspaper headlines to go with their reporting: Who Let the Tiger Out? Who Who Who Who? Joshua Muamba Rapid Rampage Tiger on the Loose! Sam Duckworth Y1 have Designs on the Senior School Our Y1 children enjoyed a visit to the Design and No one really knows what happened that day but we do know that Technology department in the Senior School the children used their imaginations to gggrrrrreat effect! earlier this week, supporting their Science topic on Materials. They were shown examples of different materials, including types of wood, metal and plastic, and they learnt about their properties. They were shown how metals can be cut and shaped and even had a go themselves.

Half Term Holiday Care Cracking the Code

After the successful ‘Hour of Code’ event last year, our Junior School pupils once again participated in this global event during their ICT lessons. It was great to see how advanced some of the pupils have become in the space of a year and how others selected tasks that were really quite challenging, putting their coding skills to the test!

Booking forms are now available for Holiday Care during the February half-term break. We provide a safe, stimulating and varied environment for your child with a varied range of activities. Holiday Care will be available between the hours of 8.30am and 5.45pm, 20th-24th February. Pick up your booking form from the School Office for further details and to reserve your place.

Stepping Back in Time with Y2 Our Y2 children enjoyed a visit from Mrs. Swales' mother last week. She came in to talk to the children The children thoroughly enjoyed their time spent on the ‘Hour about the toys she played with when she was a little girl of Code’ and truly deserved their certificates of completion. during World War 2, to link with our History topic on The website and coding tasks can be accessed from home at toys. The children learned what the toys were made https://hourofcode.com/uk . from and also found out lots of interesting facts about what life was like for a child during the war.